Compounds bearing one or more trifluoromethyl groups are used in a number of applications and are particularly well suited for imparting beneficial properties in polymers, or enhanced effectiveness in agricultural products and pharmaceuticals. For example, compounds such as trifluoroethanol and its esters, trifluoroacetic acid and its esters, 1,1,1 trifluoroacetone, and hexafluoroacetone are used to improve surface tension, chemical resistance and thermal stability in the synthesis of various types of polymers. Because of the beneficial properties of such known compounds, identifying new trifluoromethylated compounds and methods for preparing them is desirable.
Various trifluoromethylated compounds tend to be non-reactive and chemically resistant. Although such properties in the compounds are desired for some applications, there are other applications in which reactive compounds are preferred. For this purpose, the compounds should be conveniently functionalized; that is, include at least one functional group which is relatively reactive with one or more other materials. Ideally, methods for synthesizing the aforementioned types of trifluoromethylated compounds should be efficient and economical.
Methodologies for conveniently functionalizing trifluoromethylated compounds are not well defined. Moreover, often in the functionalization process, the trifluoromethyl group is disrupted and the selectivity tends to be poor. Therefore, there is a need to identify and provide synthesis methods for novel trifluoromethylated compounds that are conveniently functionalized and that can be synthesized economically.